


Rethreading the Red String

by Enllyn



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Pining, Taichi is a Good Friend, hisohoma are just mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26537521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enllyn/pseuds/Enllyn
Summary: We were taught as kids that your soulmate is made for you, a gift from the gods for you to spend the rest of your life with. Azami hated the idea, because what the universe wanted for him was not what he wanted for himself.
Relationships: Arisugawa Homare/Mikage Hisoka, Hyoudou Kumon/Izumida Azami, Hyoudou Kumon/Original Female Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51





	Rethreading the Red String

The words on his ankle stared mockingly up at him. They had been that way since he was a child, when he had been told the heir to a large, powerful clan would have no time for such frivolous things until much, much later. He filed away the idea of having a soulmate into the recesses of his mind.

Being taken care of by that romantically inept man had only made matters worse, until the very notion of ‘romance’ would send his mind into overdrive. It had always seemed so far away in elementary school, a secret the grown-ups kept among themselves, not for the prying eyes of children.

Then he had graduated and moved up to middle school, and suddenly the people he was surrounded by were no longer children, but curious teenagers peering around the entryway to the adult world. Gone were the days of boys being allergic to girls in fear of getting cooties. Even though people were born with the name of their universe-assigned soulmate on their ankles, people would still… experiment, even if they knew they were not meant to be together.

They would break it off eventually, of course, since their paths were fated to diverge and something would always go wrong in the end. Most thought it ridiculous to stray from a path already so nicely set out for them, and would not be their best selves. Those other relationships or feelings were simply detours that would eventually return to the main road.

Despite that, he remembered the boys from his class tripping over themselves trying to impress that girl… Rio? Rui? He had an impression of her beauty, but only through the words of others who would go on at length about it.

“ _Do you think she’ll like my gift? I specially asked my big sister for help, because she’s also really pretty and smart and funny, so I think Rui-chan would also like what she likes.”_

He had scoffed when he had overheard that statement. Just because they shared those qualities did not mean that boy could assume they would be the same in other areas as well! How could he- How _dare_ he assume a whole host of attributes from one reference point?

Then again, he supposed, that was simply how people were. Judging. Personally projecting a person’s entire being from one smidgen of a fact that they knew.

People not giving you a chance because of something they _thought_ they knew about you could hurt. He had heard it, felt it from Juza’s portrait. Being thought of as this imposing, fearsome delinquent when he was so much more than that. A sweets-lover. A sandal-wearer. A doting older brother and cousin. Even if he was strong and good at fighting, he never threw the first punch, because ‘scary delinquent’ was a title that had been thrown on him, not something that he had chosen for himself.

 _Choices were pretty important_ , Azami thought. If everything was already scripted out like in a manga, then what was the point of being able to make decisions when they would still lead you down the same road anyway?

Some people within the company were astronomically lucky to have found their soulmates there. Even though Homare was loud and flamboyant compared to the quieter and sleepy Hisoka, even if one expressed affection more verbally than the other, even if those differences lead to conflicts or disgruntled grumbles, Azami felt like they were really meant to complete each other.

Not that they were incomplete on their own, of course. More akin to binary stars, two separate masses revolving around the same point.

If only he had been so lucky. The name on his ankle laughed at him every time he removed his socks, though it was easy to forget when covered. Much like the candle he had slowly come to hold for one of his best friends, locked away deep within his heart. It would have been so much more convenient if those… those feelings had waited until he had met the right one.

It must have been growing for a while, sprouting from a once-unnoticeable seed. “You always pull plants out from their roots,” the resident gardener, Tsumugi, had commented once. But sometimes the roots were too tangled with the soil to be separated from it, and trying to forcefully remove them would only damage the plant.

Azami could not bear to risk such a thing, so he simply allowed it to remain. If it received no sunlight or water, it would die out eventually, right?

A fun thought, but some plants were hardy and would grow again if even a clipping of it was left behind.

Time passed, and Azami soon found himself in a new school once more; the same high school as the person he… he l-longed for? Liked? Words for such matters were difficult. It mattered little if it was not his place to act on how he felt.

A few weeks into the school year, one of his new classmates approached him during lunch break. “Izumida-kun,” she called out cautiously, yet in a more serious tone than he had heard her use up to that point. She knew they were not friends, but was determined to get his help.

Azami closed the notebook he was doodling in - he had been thinking of understated floral designs lately - and looked at the girl who was talking to him. Long, dark, straight hair and kind eyes, gently sloping downwards at the sides. She sat in front of him every day, so he remembered her name. “Miyu-san, was it? What is it?”

“You see,” Miyu started slowly, before pulling down her sock to reveal the name written there. “This is Hyodo-senpai, isn’t it? I’ve see you go home with him after school before so I - forgive me if I’m wrong - assumed you must be friends.”

Ah, her name had seemed a bit familiar at first, but it had never registered where exactly he had seen it before. “You’re not wrong. That’s Kumon…-senpai all right.” It still felt odd to refer to him as a senior in school when they had always been on equal grounds within the company, despite the two years between them.

Miyu’s eyes glimmered with hope. “Could you help me meet him then? Please? Oh, I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment!” Of course she had. Most people were.

Aquamarine eyes widened for a second in surprise, but Azami still found himself agreeing before he had time to fully process her words. There was no reason for him to dwell on how his blood ran cold at the sight of Kumon’s name on his classmate’s ankle. He would be supportive, he would be _happy_ that they would be able to meet, because they would definitely work out. They had to.

“I need to tell you something after class, meet me on the roof,” Azami shot a quick LIME message to Kumon.

“Can’t you just tell me now?” came the reply, accompanied by a deflated dog sticker.

“No,” he answered immediately.

“He seems pretty cute,” Miyu commented over his shoulder, bouncing with excitement. Azami was of the same opinion, though he did not say it out loud. She would be able to see how Kumon was soon, all the different sides of him. Azami was sure her presence would make Kumon happy, and that was important.

Later that day, Azami glanced down from his window seat and saw the third-years down in the track having physical education class. There Kumon was, jogging along with his classmates, looking like he was having the time of his life. He loved exercising, which lined up with him being a bit of a health nut.

Brimming with energy, the purple-haired boy looked up to see Azami, his face breaking out into a huge smile when he saw his junior looking back. Would that radiant smile soon be directed at the girl seated in front of him? The thought made it a little harder to smile back.

After the last bell rang throughout the school, Azami accompanied Miyu to the rooftop. She was nervous, understandably so, and wanted to know as much as she could before coming face to face with her soulmate. “Miyu-san, I think you should leave some things for yourself to discover,” _it would do no harm to tease a little_ , Azami thought.

To Azami’s surprise, Kumon was already on the roof when they arrived. “…To think you packed up faster than me this time.”

“Heh,” Kumon smiled a bit sheepishly, because he always made Azami wait for him at the school gates. “I was excited to know what you had to say to me, what kind of special occasion would require you to meet me here when we live together?”

Azami winced internally.

“I lied,” Kumon’s smile dimmed a bit upon hearing that. “Kumon, this is my classmate, Miyu-san. Miyu-san, Kumon-senpai. She wanted to meet you, so I’ll give you guys some time. See you later.”

With that, Azami headed back down the staircase from the rooftop. Part of him was curious to see how it would pan out, but a larger part of him did not want to know. Did not need to know, he corrected himself. It was not any of his business.

\--

Azami should have expected that Kumon would tell him anyway, on their walk back to the dorms. The older boy animatedly spoke about their plans to go out for lunch that weekend, and how he was so grateful that he had been able to meet his soulmate as a teenager instead of in his mid-20s like Homare and Hisoka had, or even later than that.

Muku must have rubbed off on his older cousin, Azami figured, with how the boy was always going on about how romantic it was. “I’m sure you’ll meet yours someday, Azami-kun!” Seeing how his eyes sparkled, Azami never had the heart to tell him that he had no desire to do so.

After that day, with Kumon sometimes off exploring places with his soulmate, Azami had ended up spending more time with Taichi. It made sense, since he was the second youngest member of the Autumn Troupe.

“It’s great having another person to hang out with! Tenchan’s great to talk to, but he’s always so busy with work, sometimes I don’t even see him in school…”

Taichi was peppy and loud like Kumon was, so Azami was alright with simply listening to Taichi talk about everything and nothing. Not to say that they were the same, but at least the feeling of being by the side of an energetic puppy was familiar. He missed Kumon. It was silly, since they still saw each other, spent time together in school and in the dorms, so there should not have been anything to miss. It was not his right.

“Kyu-chan’s so lucky to have met his soulmate! Aah, I hope mine’s a cute girl too… Juza-san told me about how happy he was that Kyu-chan had someone to love intensely other than him.”

 _I want to be happy for him too_ , Azami thought with a hint of bitterness that should not have been there.

“-from Tsumugi-san.” The sudden shift in Taichi’s tone of voice broke Azami out of his ruminating.

“Sorry, Taichi-san, could you repeat that?”

“I said,” he said in a low voice, like he was afraid someone would overhear. “The other day Ban-chan was having lunch with Tsumugi-san and heard something really interesting.” Fascinating. Taichi often talked about silly things like they were great secrets to be shared, but Tsumugi was not the particularly gossipy type, so it caught Azami’s attention.

“Ah, maybe I shouldn’t be telling you thi-“

Alright, he was curious now. He would bite. “What did Tsumugi-san say?”

“Geez A-chan, no need to look so fierce about it!”

“Taichi-san.”

Taichi looked around his room for a moment, even though the door was closed.

“He said… he said Hisoka-san and Homare-san finally got together after all this time! It’s been so long, I’m so happy for them… I bet Homare-san wants to do a big fancy announcement, but Hisoka-san will probably talk him out of it. Or try to.”

_What._

It took a while to click.

“Y-You mean they haven’t been together all this time? Even though Hisoka-san drapes himself on Homare-san like some cat seeking warmth?”

“He naps on everyone and everything, Misumi-san always finds him in the oddest places during his triangle hunts.”

“Homare-san always waxes poetic about how beautiful he is!”

“That’s just Homare-san being Homare-san.”

“But, but aren’t they soulmates? Did it really take them this long to find out? Anyway, they’re so t-touchy, how sha-“

“Hehe A-chan, they’ve been like that for as long as I’ve known them… Oh!” Taichi suddenly snapped his fingers, as realisation struck him. “I forgot you guys joined Mankai Company later.

“I don’t know all the details, but I’ll tell you what I know from the Taichi information passing pipeline-“

Azami tried not to laugh.

“-and that’s that before joining Mankai, Homare-san had already found his soulmate. A lady who eventually gave up on him.”

“Wait, but that means-“

“-that he and Hisoka-san aren’t soulmates? You’re right. At least, they weren’t at first.”

_Ehh?_

“It’s rare, but it wouldn’t be fair to people whose soulmates die would it?” Taichi stopped for a moment to smile sadly. “It’s not fair for the universe to tell them they can never find love again, that they’ll be stuck alone and mourning forever. Or people who simply never meet the ‘one’. It’s not fair if they have to wait forever, not knowing if they’ll ever find the person whose name has been on their skin since birth.”

_That means…_

“A-chan, soulmates can change over the course of your lifetime you know? Mukkun… Mukkun thinks cases like that are extra romantic, because they’ve ‘rethreaded the red string of fate’.”

_…that means I still have a chance._

\--

Kumon could go on at length about the things and people he was interested in. Azami felt like he knew as much about Juza from second-hand information as he did from physically being his troupemate. And he started to feel the same way about Miyu after a few weeks.

“She always puts on makeup when we go out on weekends! Though, the other day I wondered if her hand shook when putting on the eyeliner, because the two eyes weren’t exactly symmetrical…”

“It can be hard, especially with her eye shape,” Azami replied calmly. “I’m sure Miyu-san is doing her best.”

“Yeah… but you’re able to handle people with eyes like Sumi-san, and you even always manage to make Tsuzuru-san look like he isn’t running on coffee and adrenaline!”

The dark-haired boy chuckled lightly. “Of course. I have to, otherwise Director and the old man will get mad. I’d never let you guys go out on stage with anything less than the best I can do.”

Kumon grinned upon hearing that. “You’re so cool! This is why I always forget you’re actually younger than me.”

What else was Azami to do but smile back? Things _had_ changed, but he could get used to it. Whatever made Kumon happy.

\--

Summer came and went, and soon the leaves on the large cherry blossom tree in the courtyard lost their shades of green to darker, rusty tones. Although Kumon still talked about Miyu, he seemed to do so with considerably less enthusiasm than he had during spring, after the initial excitement of meeting his fated one had worn off.

And then one day, he stopped talking about her entirely.

Two boys stood on the balcony overlooking part of Veludo Way on that Wednesday autumn evening. The balcony was a popular spot for people seeking peace, since most would not enter if they already spotted an occupant. Sometimes, Misumi would use the balcony as a landing spot from a rooftop expedition, but that was usually not considered an issue since he would retreat inside quickly.

There was a cool breeze blowing, but not too chilly to the point where the pair would be forcefully driven back into the warm safety behind the sliding doors.

“So-“

“Are yo-“

The two started at the same time, their words cut off by laughter at the awkward timing.

“You can go first, Kumon.”

“Well,” Kumon sighed a bit, a rare occurrence. “You probably wonder what happened to Miyu, huh.”

Azami simultaneously had and had not. It was not his business to stick his nose into, although he _had_ noticed Miyu looking deflated for a couple of days before returning to a more jovial state. They were not close, so he did not expect her to tell him anything, and in return, he refrained from asking.

“She’s your soulmate, right? I’m sure you two are doing well.”

“Last weekend I…” Kumon gripped the banister a little tighter, hands unsteady. It took some amount of willpower from Azami to resist holding them down to cease the shaking. It would be a bit embarrassing, but sacrifices had to be made.

“When I was with her, I tried so hard to focus on her, because the universe had given us the red string and I believed... I believed that one day I’d wake up and be madly in love with her, so I was waiting and waiting for that. Sometimes I’d see her eyes shift from blue to a greener shade, narrow and understanding, and she’d chide me for sleeping too late, or for going out in the sun without sunblock.

“Except, she’s a late sleeper and had told me stories of getting sunburnt, and when I blinked her eyes would be back to the same old blue. I’d have no clue what on earth she was telling me.”

Azami was not completely sure where he was going.

“So what happened?”

Kumon’s gaze turned uncharacteristically serious. “I told her I didn’t think it would work out. You know, we’re taught as kids that your soulmate is made for you, a gift from the gods for you to spend the rest of your life with.

“But my mind was always somewhere else, on how she was a bit too polite, her words too gentle and cautious. Her hair too long and too evenly cut. The eyeshadow she wore on weekends was always a bit too thick though… I think a more natural look is nicer on everyone.”

At some point, Kumon had closed his eyes, reminiscing the months he had spent with her.

“Well, sometimes you have to try and cover up a blemish,” Azami tried.

“It wasn’t like that, it felt like she wanted to be too perfect for me. She’s pretty, and I’m sure you know that, but she wasn’t the right one.”

That was rather shocking to hear. “Isn’t she your soulmate?”

“Well, yes. But she’s not the one who saved me last summer. She’s not the one who comforted me through with their treasured brush. She’s not the one I want to spend my time with, Azami. She’s not you.”

Azami could feel the weight of those golden eyes on him, yet he felt lighter than he had in the last five months. The cool air was fresh on his face.

It was a good autumn evening.

\--

A few weeks later, the name on his ankle grew blurry. Taichi was the one who pointed it out after one of their practices, in fact.

The following week, it cleared up into a named he recognised very well.

Fate wasn’t always correct, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Azakyu Week day 6: AU Day!
> 
> Thanks Alfy, for telling me that it would be fun to see a story where soulmates don't end up together.
> 
> And to Miyu, the girl I created on a whim for this story, I'm sorry.


End file.
